Feeling: Ugh, the weather has been stifling yet again. Sunday got reeeeeally hot by the end of the run and it took us almost two hours to get our food when we went out for brunch afterwards.

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Despite the weather being as intense as ever, I have to admit that something has really changed in my outlook ever since the 30k tune-up race a couple of weekends ago. Last Sunday’s run, while challenging didn’t take its usual toll on me once we passed the 23k mark. Our 6k tempo runs suddenly don’t feel like such a big deal, and running around a track a few times at an uncomfortable pace for an extended amount of time doesn’t feel nearly as torturous as usual. I can’t quite put my finger on what has changed, but I know something has and that my experience a couple of weekends ago played a big part in that change. The only downside is that my left leg seems to be complaining a little bit lately – I’m really hoping this is in response to the gross weather and not a sign of an impending injury. We’ll see….

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I’m not going to lie, the past few weeks have been insanely busy for me. I barely spend more than 2 or 3 waking hours at home and eating my own food has been more of a challenge than ever. Sometimes I just want to throw my hands in the air and move back home just so that I can have my meals cooked and waiting for me when I get home every night. Mom, are you reading this? 😉

But alas, I am a grown up (at least I think I am), and with a fairly tight budget, I sometimes have to get creative in the kitchen.

This past Saturday, I was determined to make enough food to last me through the week. I normally don’t pull it out until it’s really cold outside, but I brushed the dust off my slow cooker and decided to bring it back into action since I had errands to run all day and wouldn’t have time to babysit the lentils at the stove.

I used some dry ingredients for lack of fresh ones.

With some leftover sweet onion, a can of diced tomatoes, I let everything simmer away for 8ish hours while I went about with my day. Okay, so it won’t ever replace my mom’s cooking, but it’s the closest thing I’ve got to coming home to fresh food.

I served the first helping with some spiralized sweet potato noodles. Before eating them, I sauteed them with some coconut oil to add some flavour. Along with some fresh cherry tomatoes that my coworker gave me from her garden (of which I am extremely jealous of!).

Not bad, not bad at all.

Another winning dinner: stir-fried with frozen vegetables and dried apricot.

Rolled up with a sprouted whole wheat tortilla with mustard and Sriracha sauce.

Post-run dinner in less than 15 minutes!

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Easy Lentil Stew

Ingredients:

1 cup dried lentils / pearled barley (I would have just used lentils but I only had 3/4 cups worth)

1 can diced tomatoes + 1 can water

1/4 c sweet onion, chopped

2 tsp curry powder

1/2 tsp cumin

2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp onion powder

dried kelp (I used this in place of broth)

red pepper flakes (to taste)

Directions:

Add everything to the slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Notes:

In the past, I’ve ruined way too many over-spiced soups and stews so I decided to play it safe with this one. Its flavours were very subtle, which I took care of by adding mustard, hot sauce, and even salsa to “wake up” the flavours when I ate it again. This tasted amazing stir fried with vegetables and rolled up in a tortilla or eaten with plain toast.

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I also had time to use up my overly ripe avocado and baked something delicious in the oven. Sneak peak: